Harrier 809: Britain's Legendary Jump Jet and the Untold Story of the Falklands War by Rowland White

$40.00 NZD

Category: Military

When the Falkland Islands were invaded by Argentina in April 1982, Britain's immediate response was to send a task force. But behind the pomp and bravado of its departure, a sober reality lurked. A mere 20 Sea Harriers operating from two aircraft carriers would take on the might of the Argentine air for ce, some 200 planes strong. The MOD estimated that within four days and against such formidable air power, half the harriers would likely be lost. To reinforce that meagre force, and in just three weeks, the Navy formed, trained and equipped a brand new squadron from scratch. Not since the Second World War had so much been expected of such a small band of pilots. Their home would be a container ship converted into a makeshift carrier. 809 Naval Air Squadron was born. Other covert operations mounted by MI6 and the SAS in Latin America would provide vital intelligence to protect the task force from attack but in the vanguard of the conflict it would be the Sea Harriers of the 809 whose heroics in the South Atlantic which would become legendary. With characteristic insider knowledge and in thrilling detail, Rowland White tells the story of those amazing exploits - the dogfights, the twenty-three kills, the deadly Exocet attacks, the ejections -demonstrating just why the Harrier is mentioned in the same breath as the Spitfire, the Lancaster and the Vulcan and is destined to join them in the ranks of our most celebrated aeronautical achievements. ...Show more

The Diggers of Colditz: The Classic Australian POW Story about Escape from the Impossible by Jack Champ; Colin Burgess

$26.99 NZD

Category: Military

Colditz Castle was Nazi Germany's infamous 'escape-proof' wartime prison, where hundreds of the most determined and resourceful Allied prisoners were sent. Despite having more guards than inmates, Australian Lieutenant Jack Champ and other prisoners tirelessly carried out their campaign to escape from t he massive floodlit stronghold . . . by any means necessary.   In this riveting account - by turns humorous, heartfelt and tragic - historian Colin Burgess and Lieutenant Jack Champ, from the point of view of the prisoners themselves, tells the story of the twenty Australians who made this castle their 'home', and the plans they made that were so crazy that some even achieved the seemingly impossible - escape!   'A stirring testimony of mateship . . . We are often on tenterhooks, always impressed by their determination, industry and courage' Australian Book Review ...Show more

Topgun by Dan Pedersen

$24.00 NZD

Category: Military

When American fighter jets were being downed at an unprecedented rate during the Vietnam War, the U.S. Navy turned to a young lieutenant commander, Dan Pedersen, to figure out a way to reverse their dark fortune. On a shoestring budget and with little support, Pedersen picked eight of the finest pilots to help train a new generation to bend jets like the F-4 Phantom to their will and learn how to dogfight all over again. What resulted was nothing short of a revolution -- one that took young American pilots from the crucible of combat training in the California desert to the blistering skies of Vietnam, in the process raising America's Navy combat kill ratio from two enemy planes downed for every American plane lost to more than 22 to 1. Topgun emerged not only as an icon of America's military dominance immortalized by Hollywood but as a vital institution that would shape the nation's military strategy for generations to come. Pedersen takes readers on a colorful and thrilling ride-from Miramar to Area 51 to the decks of aircraft carriers in war and peace-through a historic moment in air warfare. He helped establish a legacy that was built by him and his "Original Eight" - the best of the best - and carried on for six decades by some of America's greatest leaders. Topgunis a heartfelt and personal testimonial to patriotism, sacrifice, and American innovation and daring. ...Show more

SAS Shadow Raiders: The Ultra-Secret Mission That Changed the Course of WWII by Damien Lewis

$27.99 NZD

Category: Military

The incredible story of the radar wars - Britain's most secret battle In the winter of 1941 an alien-seeming object was captured in a death-defying dash by an RAF reconnaissance pilot flying a lone unarmed Spitfire across the French coast. Balanced upon the cliffs near Le Havre was what appeared to be a giant convex dish, directed across the Channel at the war-torn British coastline. With Britain's cities being pounded by fearsome bombing raids, teams of experts studied the photograph worriedly. Might the dish constitute a highly-secret form of radar - one that had the capacity to tip the balance of the war decisively in the enemy's favour? If so, Nazi Germany would have leapfrogged British technology many-fold. A top-secret mission was devised to steal what had become known as the 'Wurzburg Dish,' after Enigma intercepts of coded German messages. Appropriately christened Operation Biting, this was to be the first-ever Allied raid using airborne forces. Commanded by legendary Major John 'Johnny' Frost, he demanded blind loyalty from his band of piratical raiders. 'A wild crew ... they looked horrible,' he admitted. Each and every rehearsal had proved disastrous; it was a suicide mission in all but name. On the French coast agents of the Special Operations Executive - Churchill's shadowy ministry for ungentlemanly warfare - risked all to map the target's defences. At the eleventh hour, two unwelcome additions joined Frosts's crew. One, was a shadowy German cloaked in mystery; the other a British radar specialist who could not be allowed to fall into enemy hands. Relying on files declassified for the purposes of writing this book, eyewitness testimony,and working with the families of key figures involved, Lewis reveals an untold epic of daring, ruthless rule-breaking and ferocity, coupled with bravery and ingenuity beyond measure. The results of Operation Biting would resonate throughout the war and beyond,changing the course of twentieth-century history. ...Show more

The SS Officer's Armchair - In Search of a Hidden Life by Daniel Lee

$40.00 NZD

Category: Military

It began with an armchair. It began with the surprise discovery of a stash of personal documents covered in swastikas that had been sewn into its cushion. The SS Officer's Armchair is the story of what happened next, as historian Daniel Lee follows the trail of cold calls, documents, coincidences and fa mily secrets, to uncover the life of one Dr Robert Griesinger from Stuttgart. Who was he? What had his life been - and how had it ended? Lee reveals the strange life of a man whose ambition propelled him to become part of the Nazi machinery of terror. He discovers unexpected ancestors in New Orleans, untold stories of SS life and family fragmentation. As Lee delves deeper, Griesinger's responsibility as an active participant in Nazi crimes becomes clearer. Dr Robert Griesinger's name is not infamous. But to understand the inner workings of the Third Reich, we need to know not just its leaders, but the ordinary Nazis who made up its ranks. Revealing how Griesinger's choices reverberate into present-day Germany, and among descendants of perpetrators, Lee raises potent questions about blame, manipulation and responsibility. A historical detective story and a gripping account of one historian's hunt for answers, The SS Officer's Armchair is at once a unique addition to our understanding of Nazi Germany and a chilling reminder of how such regimes are made not by monsters, but by ordinary people. ...Show more

Battle of Britain - The Pilots and Planes That Made History by Simon Pearson; Ed Gorman

$37.99 NZD

Category: Military

In Battle of Britain: The Pilots and the Planes That Made History, Ed Gorman and Simon Pearson paint a vivid picture of the men and their machines as the battle for air superiority over Britain is played out across the skies of Europe, from western Ireland to the German capital. They tell remarkable st ories involving hitherto unknown airmen from across the world who flew aircraft, including some that will be new to many readers: the New Zealander who "borrowed" a seaplane from the Royal Navy to set up a freelance air-sea rescue service that saved the lives of dozens of British and German pilots; the Swiss baron who destroyed nine British fighters in a day; the vainglorious Dane whose RAF squadron was wiped out trying to disrupt Nazi invasion plans; and the German bomber pilot who fought the last battle involving foreign troops on British soil since Culloden - before repairing to a pub in Kent for a pint with soldiers from the Irish Rifle, who had taken him prisoner. Illustrated with contemporary photographs of the pilots and their aircraft, these are enthralling stories from both sides of a conflict that shaped the modern world, full of courage, endeavour and above all, humanity. ...Show more

A Woman of No Importance - The Untold Story of Virginia Hall WW2s Most Dangerous Spy by Sonia Purnell

$27.99 NZD

Category: Military

***A New York Times bestseller*** 'Riveting' Mick Herron, New York Times * 'A rousing tale' The Times, Book of the Week * 'Cracking' Telegraph * 'Gripping' Irish Times * 'Brilliant' Evening Standard * 'Excellent' Spectator In September 1941, a young American woman strides up the steps of a hotel in Lyon , Vichy France. Her papers say she is a journalist. Her wooden leg is disguised by a determined gait and a distracting beauty. She is there to spark the resistance. By 1942 Virginia Hall was the Gestapo's most urgent target, having infiltrated Vichy command, trained civilians in guerrilla warfare and sprung soldiers from Nazi prison camps. The first woman to go undercover for British SOE, her intelligence changed the course of the war - but her fight was still not over. This is a spy history like no other, telling the story of the hunting accident that disabled her, the discrimination she fought and the secret life that helped her triumph over shocking adversity. ...Show more

Spearhead by Adam Makos

$24.99 NZD

Category: Military

From the Sunday Times bestselling author of A Higher Call comes the riveting World War II story of an American tank gunner's journey into the heart of the Third Reich.

Dark Journey : Three Key NZ Battles by Glyn Harper

$39.99 NZD

Category: Military

Definitive account of three key NZ battles of the Western Front, WWI. This significant volume represents the culmination of over seven years' writing and research by esteemed military historian Glyn Harper. The book includes the revision and reissuing of his two earlier detailed histories of the New Zea land Divisions' major Western Front battles of World War One - Massacre at Passchendaele (2000), Spring Offensive (2003) - combined with a previously unpublished account of the third major battle of the Somme, at Bapaume, during which several VCs were awarded to New Zealand troops. Dark Journey presents the first comprehensive overview of New Zealand's involvement in World War One by one of our most highly regarded historians. It also provides deep analysis of the NZ war contribution, with startling revelations about the true scale of casualties, consistently under-reported in the past. This is Glyn Harper's master work, bringing together research and resources from his previous books, presenting the full story of New Zealand's Western Front experiences on a deservedly grand scale. ...Show more

Eddie Norman And 25 Battalion by Elizabeth Kay

$40.00 NZD

Category: Military

When World War Two broke out, three theological students left their college in Auckland to the sound of bagpipes and volunteered to fight. Eddie Norman, aged 22 from Hawke's Bay, was one of them. A natural leader, his first experience of action was at El Alamein in 1942 as a platoon commander, and durin g the Italian campaign he quickly rose to command 25 Battalion. Under Eddie, the battalion was responsible for the division's sole success at Cassino, almost single-handedly smashed the German defensive line south of Arezzo and led the advance across the Senio to the Sillaro River. He was awarded the Military Cross, Distinguished Service Order and American Legion of Merit. Eddie's regular letters home to his new wife, Margaret, described daily army life during the desert fighting in the Middle East and the wet winter campaign in Italy when the men were holed up in the ruins of Cassino and pursued the enemy through Tuscany to the Adriatic Coast. Eddie returned home to Margaret and his studies for the Anglican priesthood, eventually becoming Anglican Bishop of Wellington in 1973 and knighted. Eddie Norman and 25 Battalion is told by Eddie's daughter Elizabeth Kay using his letters and other writings, 200 images and a series of custom-made maps. ...Show more

Official Secrets: The Spy Who Tried to Stop a War (FTI) by Marcia Mitchell; Thomas Mitchell

$25.00 NZD

Category: Military | Reading Level: 4 Non Fiction

SOON TO BE A MAJOR MOTION PICTURE STARRING KEIRA KNIGHTLEY, MATT SMITH, RALPH FIENNES AND MATTHEW GOODE FEATURING A NEW INTRODUCTION FROM THE AUTHOR In January 2003, 28-year-old GCHQ translator Katharine Gun received an email from the US National Security Agency that would turn her world upside down. Th e message requested Katharine's assistance in co-ordinating an illegal US-UK spy operation which would secure UN authorisation for the Iraq invasion. Horrified, she decided to leak the information to the British press. Katharine's decision would change her life forever, as she was arrested under the Official Secrets Act whilst becoming a cause célèbre for political activists. Official Secrets is the definitive account of a whistleblower case that reads like a thriller, and will ask you the same question that was asked of Katharine that cold January day - where do your true loyalties lie? ...Show more

For King and Country: Four Brothers, Four Crosses by Jock Vennell

$24.99 NZD

Category: Military